Moving Picture World (Jan-Feb 1927)

344 MOVING PICTURE WORLD HOLLYWOOD OFFICE January 29, 1927 Tom Mix greeting his parents, Mr. and Mrs. E. E. Mix, of Du Bois, Pa., who visited him recently in Hollywood. Hays Silent On Hollywood Winter Visit V ill Hays has been in Hollywood just a week and no statement has been forthcoming from him on any subject of interest to the film industry. At the office of the Association of Motion Picture Producers, Fred Beetson, secretary of the organization, said that Mr. Hays’ visit was just on routine matters and that if any statements were issued before he returned to New York, which will be within the next two weeks, they will probably incorporate nothing more than matters characteristic of Mr. Hays on such a trip. The president of the Motion Picture Producers and Distributors visits Hollywood in January and July of each year. He has made these trips a part of his policy since he entered his office four years ago. Mr. Hays, during the past week, has been seen visiting several of the studios out here. It was reiterated at the West Coast headquarters of the Producers Association that Hays would probably maintain his closed-mouthed attitude on the present status of Charlie Chaplin. Clara Bow Starts Clara Bow’s new starring vehicle “Rough House Rosie” went into production at the Paramount lot this week. Adapts Stage Play Edward T. Loew, Jr., is now adapting “In Old Kentucky” from the stage play by Charles Dazey. It is expected this picture will go into production early in the spring. Arthur Is Signed George K. Arthur, British actor, has signed a new contract with M. G. M. Arthur has already worked on the Culver City lot for the past two years. At the same time Lionel Barrymore was placed under a new contract. First National to Have World’s Largest Studio Within a little over a month, the First National Studios at Burbank will be accommodating two additional film stages, each with about 50,000 square feet of floor space. The expenditure of $200,000.00 for this work is one of the first official moves Richard A. Rowland, president of First National, has made since his arrival in Hollywood over a week: ago. With these new stages First National will unquestionably havethe largest studio in the world. The present four huge stages are said already to have placed First National in the lead for floor space in Hollywood. Mr. Rowland this week isquoted as having said in Burbank : “We are very elated over the results obtained at the new plant,, since concentrating our production here, by John McCormick,, general manager of West Coast production and M. C. Levee, general executive manager. “The first of February will see eight productions at work on the lot, including two superspecials,. ‘The Patent Leather Kid,’ starring Richard Barthelmess, and ‘The Tender Hour,’ George Fitzmaurice’s first picture under his new contract featuring Ben Lyon, Billie Dove and Alec B. Francis.” Columbia Plans No Amalgamation (Continued from page 339) “ ‘The Wreck’ is the fastest and best picture Columbia ever made.” That’s what they quote Newman as saying after previewing the rough print which we saw the other day. And by “fastest” Newman meant, we would say from our own observation, a picture that doesn’t know what a lag means. The story is an original by Dorothy Howell. Miss Howell doesn’t just write stories. From what we have heard about her in our comparatively short time away from New York, Miss Howell can and does quite frequently supervise her own stories in the process of their physical adaptation to the screen. Furthermore she can pick costumes and casts. And still, she is perfectly at home in the cutting and editing room. Last but not least, she knows how to make a title sound prettily upon the box office’s big ear. They say that Miss Howell, an attractive titian blond with all other characteristics in attune with her hair that would qualify her for a position before the camera, was for six years, prior to her three years’ association with Columbia, secretary to Irving Thalberg, youthful MetroGoldwyn-Mayer wizard. After we had met her, Bill Branch, one of Harry Cohn’s energetic bowers, whispered : “She’s the Fe maleIrving Thalberg.” Needless to say Miss Howell is going to play an important part in Columbia’s all-round events for 1927-28. We would say for her also that she is a “Female Harry Cohn” since Cohn can and actually does most of the things accredited to her, and a few more. “The Wreck,” incidentally, is Director W. James Craft’s first picture for Columbia and first pictorial effort in the field of melodrama. He made excellent use of Miss Howell’s fast moving story, transferring it to the screen with a verve that should bring him special attention for a well-knit, suspenseful story when the finished product is flashed in its six reels before critics on its general release date, February 1. The picture possesses not only a climax but an ante climax. Both of these are scenes of actual wrecks, one a train collision and the other a car leaping over a steep incline. The train wreck was an exterior sequence which Director Craft had to take his company to Mohave, a few miles from here, to shoot. On the screen the effect of two long trains telescoping into each other is realized. Several obsolete cars were actually burned on the tracks at Mohave while this stirring scene was being filmed. This sequence appears early in the footage. It is the termination of a foolish marriage and at the same time escape from an unjust prison sentence for Shirley Mason who portrays the role of Ann. But it is only the beginning of equally speedy action resultant in the climax when Shirley drives her desparado and thieving husband over a cliff and wins the wealthy man whose ill-suited mate was killed in the train wreck and whose death resulted in unique circumstances spelling Shirley’s salvation. The famous M u 1 1 h o 1 1 a n d Drive, one of Hollywood’s serpentine heights, furnishes the locale for the auto race. High priced Packards are seen to swerve around sharp corners in this dizzy altitude without regard for either occupants or material cost. Malcolm McGregor, as Robert Brooks, plays opposite Miss Mason. Francis McDonald essays the role of Joe Boyle, the felon who, in the opening sequence, plants the stolen jewels on Ann from which incident the story gains its impetus. Also prominently cast are Frances Raymond, Brook’s mother and James Bradbury, Jr., as Pete Vinci, Boyle’s pal. “Czar Of Pictures 99 Noncommittal On Coast